Certain disease states require treatment using one or more different medicaments. Some drug compounds need to be delivered in a specific relationship with each other in order to deliver the optimum therapeutic dose. This invention is of particular benefit where combination therapy is desirable, but not possible in a single formulation for reasons such as, but not limited to, stability, compromised therapeutic performance and toxicology.
For example, in some cases it might be beneficial to treat a person suffering from diabetes with a long acting insulin and with a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is derived from the transcription product of the proglucagon gene. GLP-1 is found in the body and is secreted by the intestinal L cell as a gut hormone. GLP-1 possesses several physiological properties that make it (and its analogs) a subject of intensive investigation as a potential treatment of diabetes mellitus.
There are a number of potential problems when delivering two active medicaments or “agents” simultaneously. The two active agents may interact with each other during the long-term, shelf life storage of the formulation. Therefore, there are certain advantages to storing the active components separately and only combine them at the point of delivery, e.g. injection, need-less injection, pumps, or inhalation. However, the process for combining the two agents needs to be simple and convenient for the user to perform reliably, repeatedly and safely.
A further concern is that the quantities and/or proportions of each active agent making up the combination therapy may need to be varied for each user or at different stages of their therapy. For example, one or more active agents may require a titration period to gradually introduce a patient to a “maintenance” dose. A further example would be if one active agent requires a non-adjustable fixed dose while the other is varied in response to a patient's symptoms or physical condition. This problem means that pre-mixed formulations of multiple active agents may not be suitable as these pre-mixed formulations would have a fixed ratio of the active components, which could not be varied by the healthcare professional or user.
Additional concerns arise where a multi-drug compound therapy is required, because certain users cannot cope with having to use more than one drug delivery system or make the necessary accurate calculation of the required dose combination. This is especially true for users with dexterity or computational difficulties.
Other problems arise where a user may attempt to re-use a non-sterile needle after a certain dose combination has been delivered. Using such a non-sterile needle could lead to the transmission of certain diseases and therefore there exists a need for a medicated module that prevents needle re-use. There is a further concern of inadvertent needle sticks for care workers/healthcare professionals with certain needle assemblies where the injection needle is not concealed or covered. As such, there is also a general need to reduce certain patient's needle anxiety that may heighten a patient's fear or phobia of exposed needles.
Accordingly, there exists a strong need to provide devices and methods for the delivery of two or more medicaments in a single injection or delivery step that is simple and safe for the user to perform and that also tends to reduce a patient's anxiety towards injections or needles. The present application discloses methods and devices that overcome the above-mentioned concerns by providing separate storage containers for two or more active drug agents that are then only combined and/or delivered to the patient during a single delivery procedure.
Setting a dose of one medicament automatically fixes or determines the dose of the second medicament (i.e., a non-user settable dose). The present application also gives the opportunity for varying the quantity of one or both medicaments. For example, one fluid quantity can be varied by changing the properties of the injection device (e.g., dialing a user variable dose or changing the device's “fixed” dose). The second fluid quantity can be changed by manufacturing a variety of secondary drug containing packages or kits with each variant containing a different volume and/or concentration of the second active agent. The user or healthcare professional would then select the most appropriate secondary package or series or combination of series of different packages or kits for a particular treatment regime.
These and other advantages will become evident from the following more detailed description of the invention.